I’m all for redesign when it makes sense, but the new proposed look for the Marietta Theatre in the Square next to the Marietta Pizza Company looks just plain bad. Councilman Jim King said it best with, “I can’t treat this any different than anyone else, I can’t think of any business that wouldn’t benefit from a foot and a half.”
Mayor Bill Dunaway defended the request, saying council should make an exception for the theater, which brings many people to the Square.
Even Councilman Van Pearlberg raised concerns over the look of the proposed facade. “It’s not historical looking at all,” Pearlberg said.
It’s yet to be seen what will happen with this redevelopment project, but personally I think some new architects need to be brought in for a redesign.
3 Comments
it looks like a grocery store…. YUCK!
I think Jim’s quote was actually referring to the fact that the theater is asking for parts of the facade to encroach into the sidewalk by a foot and a half. Jim was saying he didn’t want to set a precedent so that other businesses would start asking to encroach into the city’s right of way by a foot and a half. Jim seemed to be avoiding any judging of the aesthetics of the facade, because it had been approved by the Historic Board of Review (albeit 3 years ago before the board was remade by the Mayor). Other council members had major issues with the look, but it really was only before the council for approval of the encroachment, not for review of design of the facade.
Gotcha DW, at any rate, the design doesn’t fit at all with any Historic standards from what I can tell, it does indeed look like Stephanie said, “a grocery store” – I hope this doesn’t get approved or at least the Historic Review Board (remade group) takes a second look at the design – fwiw.
Matthew